U.s. Seeking 260-year Prison Sentence For Fort

December 22, 1987|By Liz Sly.

The U.S. attorney`s office has asked for the maximum sentence of 260 years for El Rukn leader Jeff Fort, who was convicted last month of directing a terrorism-for-hire plot to obtain money from Libya, according to the government`s sentencing memorandum released Monday.

The memorandum recommends that Fort, a ``revolutionary leader,`` should receive the maximum sentence because his crime was ``aimed at destroying the system of government in the United States of America.``

It says that Fort`s three main co-conspirators, Leon McAnderson, Reico Cranshaw and Alan Knox, should receive 75 years each.

McAnderson and Cranshaw, who visited Libya and Panama in an effort to solicit $2.5 million from the Libyans, were eligible for up to 190 years each. Knox, who purchased an antitank rocket from an FBI agent, could have received up to 130 years.

The government also will seek a 15-year sentence for Roosevelt Hawkins, who drove the car in which the rocket was transported.

The memorandum also says the government will release details outlining the relationship between Charles Knox, an unindicted co-conspirator, and the Libyans.

Knox, who is not related to Alan Knox, traveled to Libya with Cranshaw and McAnderson and paid for their travel to Panama. Testimony during the trial, which consisted largely of taped telephone conversations between Rukn members, suggested that Knox was the Rukns` key contact with the Libyans.

Fort, who telephoned instructions to gang members to acquire explosives and blow up buildings from his prison cell in Texas, should never again be allowed access to a telephone, the memorandum recommends.

Fort`s lawyer, Terry Gillespie, said it would be ``silly`` to impose such large sentences. Fort, who is 40, will have to serve two-thirds of any sentence, so a 60-100 year sentence would be sufficient, he said.

Rick Halprin, who represents Reico Cranshaw, said that ``the evidence on which they were convicted doesn`t support a draconian sentence.``

But the memorandum described the gang`s crimes as ``treasonous`` and

``the largest threat to the country and to its people of any form of criminal conduct.``

Sentencing is scheduled for next Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle.